Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

The article examines the links between alcohol consumption, drinking habits and the high homicide rates in Finland today from the point of view of the structure of homicides and the social status of the people involved in them. The Finnish situation is compared with that in the other Nordic countries, especially in Sweden.

The links between alcohol and homicidal crime are examined from the point of view of three main factors: the relative and absolute numbers of intoxicated offenders and victims, and regular substance abusers among offenders, and the patterns of victim-offender relationships. By combining the information, a general picture is formed of the significance and absolute levels of alcohol-connected homicides and what kinds of population groups are responsible for these crimes in each of the Nordic countries.

Although the Finnish annual homicide rate is triple that of other Nordic countries, the social background and structure of homicidal crime are very similar in Finland, Sweden and Norway. In all the three Nordic countries the crimes are committed mainly by alcoholic, unemployed men living on the fringe of society. It also seems that the difference in the crime level between Finland and its Scandinavian neighbours is mainly caused by the alcohol-related violence of this group; the volume of other types of homicide is more or less the same.

Alcohol may explain, at least to some extent, the higher Finnish homicide rates compared to other Nordic countries, however, the linkage between alcohol consumption and violent crime is in today's Finland very similar to that in Sweden and Norway. Consequently, it is unlikely that the differences in the homicide rates would be caused directly by the differences in the general drinking cultures. Instead of looking for general cultural behaviour models to explain the higher rate of homicide, one should ask why middle-aged alcoholics appear in larger numbers in Finland than in other Nordic countries, and why they behave more violently.

Pubs are focal stages of sociability. This article investigates the identifications and distinctions between us and them, made by young Finns talking about their own behaviour in pubs, and the pubs they like and dislike.

The data consists of 117 interviews with 23 to 35-year-old young Finnish adults who work in business or administration. The method applies classification analysis and is influenced by the structuralist, semiotic, and rhetoric traditions.

The analysis shows that many of the interviewees' classifications involve distancing themselves from those people that go to ‘superficial' pubs. The interviewees distinguish themselves from those frequenting superficial places by classifying the interactions there as false and stiff, and contrary to a genuine and relaxed sociability. With these distinctions the interviewees do not aim to distinguish themselves as above' others. Instead, they define themselves as ordinary people by separating themselves from people who are fake, pretentious, or too faddish.

[This] opposition to superficiality and the emphasis on authenticity is reminiscent of Rousseau's criticism of trivial needs. The interviewees seem to define sociability in pubs in a way that valorises the virtues of ordinariness and modesty.

The aim of this article is to investigate the problem formulations – the preconceptions about causes and effects and the possible solutions to the problems of alcohol abuse – that characterized the compulsory institutional care of alcohol abusers in Sweden in the 20th century. The article focuses on problem formulations that actually were practised in the institutions.

The main source material is to be found in the archives of four institutionalized care establishments and consists of official reports, correspondence, supply estimates, circulars for consideration and – above all – patient records. From this material you can learn about the institutions' struggle for autonomy, expansion and legitimacy, and also about the clients' characteristics and how the clients were viewed. The study of the archives allows you to form a picture of the problem formulations that affected the activities in the institutions directly, a picture that goes beyond the more abstract expectations preferred by official reports and legislation.

Within the compulsory institutional care actually carried out, the problem formulations that were stipulated in the gender-neutral legislation and vague regulations became gender-specific and precise. The treatment of alcohol abusers was a class and gender related project, aiming not only at encouraging male diligence and the fulfilling of a man's maintenance obligation but also at female virtuousness and concern for the family.

The history of alcohol abusers' treatment shows that alcohol itself has been a secondary factor in problem definitions which have let themselves be attached – via perceived links with either cause or effect – to more overarching social issues in Sweden. The concerns of emergent family policy in the 1940s, the developmental optimism and scientistic passions of the 1950s, and the systemically critical protest movements of the 1970s are all clearly reflected in trends within social care services for alcohol abusers – albeit much more often at the level of discourse than of praxis.

Due to its wide scope and the way in which it is applied, the Swedish compulsory care legislation for problem substance users is rather unique, both from an international and a Nordic perspective. Accordingly, from the time of its introduction about twenty-five years ago, the current legislation has repeatedly been criticised on ethical and scientific grounds.

This study employs the factorial survey approach to disentangle predictors relating to assessments of eligibility for compulsory care among a sample of 205 social workers from 36 social services units. The data, which comprise social workers' ideal assessments of randomly constructed hypothetical clients, have been analysed using multilevel logistic regression.

The results show that overall, the social workers' assessments of client eligibility for compulsory care correspond well with the legislation. However, the results also reveal that several factors not specified in the legislation have an effect on these assessments. These include elements from the popular discourse on drugs in Sweden, the social workers' ideological convictions and the organisational structure of, and experiences of handling compulsory care applications at, the respondents' workplaces.

The article addresses the following research questions: (i) How strong is the price elasticity for beer, wine and spirits? (ii) How rapid is the effect of a price change? (iii) Is the price elasticity stable across time and space? (iv) Does an increase in price give a corresponding effect as a decrease?

The sales data cover Systembolaget's retail sales of beer, wine and spirits for the period from January 1984 to March 2004. The price indexes are based on weighted baskets deflated by a consumer price index. Most of the analyses were performed on quarterly data. The data were analysed using the Box-Jenkins technique for time series analysis.

The price elasticities—as estimated from quarterly data—were statistically significant for all beverages; –0.8 for beer, –0.6 for wine and and –1 for spirits. Similar estimates were obtained from monthly data, suggesting a fast consumer response to price changes. The elasticity for beer was weaker during the period 1995–2004 (-0.6) than during the period 1984–1994 (-1.4), but it was no different in southern Sweden than in the remainder of the country. An increase in the price of spirits seems to affect sales as much as a price decrease, that is, the price effect seems to be symmetric. Finally, the results indicated that since 1995 sales of beer and wine increased more, and spirits sales less, than predicted from the development in prices.

The study confirms previous findings that the demand of alcoholic beverages is responsive to changes in price; however, price is not the sole factor that drives the trends in sales. The reduced elasticity for beer may be due to the marked drop in beer prices.